Introduction

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the following definitions apply to the concept of making a journey:


1. journey: something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another


2. trek: to make one's way arduously

Thus, we can safely assert that a trek is in actuality an arduous journey - in our case - an arduous journey through time.

Few people are fortunate enough to be able to claim that their passage was not an arduous one - a trek. We envy those who can and pity them at the same time. They have missed the experience of being forged in the crucible of life and, as a result, most likely they have lost the opportunity and advantage of looking at life from a realist's point of view.

The makings of "An Immigrant's Trek" were bred and nurtured in a climate of stubborn self-assuredness, bordering on egocentricity, and tenacity - never let the incompetents of the world get the better of you. I didn't fully understand where and under which circumstances these traits had first really asserted themselves in my lifetime until my wife, Bobbie, and I decided to spend my first Christmas in Cologne, Germany since my childhood in 1928.

While on that visit I had daily discussions with my aunt Henni, my mother's sister. It was an opportunity to learn more about the first seven years of my life and nearly one year of schooling in Cologne, Germany. I discovered things about myself that had laid the foundation for and formed my attitude and behavior for the rest of my life.

Hans W. Vogel

North Tustin, California

May 2009